The present invention relates to the creation and updating of subscriber profiles maintained and used within telecommunications systems.
Among the ever increasing array of services provided by telecommunications systems are services which operate on the basis of a subscriber profile. A subscriber profile, more particularly, is a database record containing information about how the service is to be perforated for a particular subscriber. A typical example is the personal telephone number service disclosed in the co-pending commonly assigned United States patent application of C. W. Creswell et al, Ser. No. 07/905,265, filed on Jun. 26, 1992, entitled "A System for Providing Personalized Telephone Calling Features." As described in that patent application, a caller who has dialed the personal, e.g., "700 area code", telephone number of a subscriber to the service is connected to a computer-based service adjunct which, upon answering the call, prompts the caller for a so-called "caller identification number." Upon receiving the caller identification number from the caller, such as via telephone pushbutton input, the system consults a subscriber profile associated with the called personal telephone number to determine whether the caller identification number is valid and, if it is, how the call is to be treated. As examples of various call treatments, the profile may indicate that, upon receiving a particular caller identification number, the call is to be forwarded to the subscriber's home telephone number, to some other subscriber-defined call forwarding telephone number, to a voice messaging system, or to a specified succession of these.